Summary of the real estate investing conference I attended in Columbus Ohio

One of my clients is a turnkey wholesaler who does a lot of deals in a few different states. For the past couple of years, he’s held an event in Columbus Ohio called The Deal-Maker Experience. I’ve attended the event the past couple of years to connect with my client, plus a couple of my other clients attend there, plus it’s a great networking opportunity to meet new clients, plus I learn a lot!

This year, I flew into Columbus on Sunday June 14 and enjoyed the afternoon walking around downtown Columbus.

On Monday morning the event started. Actually, the event is divided into two parts: There’s an invitation-only mastermind of about a dozen people who meet Monday and Tuesday. It’s high level stuff and a lot of fun. I attended it and connected with a few of my clients who also attend.

Tuesday was the same deal. We talk about investing, building a business, long-term legacy planning, outsourcing, etc. The people who attend this portion of the event are doing deals all the time so it’s pretty advanced.

Wednesday was mostly downtime and I caught up on some sleep and a bit of work for other clients. Then Wednesday night people started arriving for the larger event. The larger event had about 200 people and it started with a cocktail meeting Wednesday evening.

On Thursday morning the education piece started. Many of the people in this meeting are new to investing — having never invested or having only done a few irregular deals. So this meeting is far more introductory. The host walked people step-by-step through the investing process, from how to build a buyers list to how to find deals.

Friday was much the same: Education, information, step-by-step strategies.

On Saturday we started the day with some education and I spoke about building marketing funnels. The audience was really receptive and the response to the call to action was great. Then the conference wrapped up and we all got onto buses and drove over to a rehabbed property. My client had bought and rehabbed the property and then he donated the house to a charitable organization that works with disadvantaged people by giving them a place to stay. After the event, we all went out to a local bar for a post-event party.

It was a blast. If my client hosts the event again next year, I’m definitely going!

TAKEAWAYS AND BENEFITS

I connected with a bunch of existing clients — some of whom I’d never met face-to-face before — so it was good to sit with them and learn alongside them and to spend some time strategizing with them.

I met many, many new people: Folks who became friends (and Facebook friends), potential clients, and joint venture partners. The important thing now is that I need to make sure I follow-up with these folks!

Between an increase in work from my existing clients, and the work I know I’m getting from my new clients, this conference had an ROI of 3:1 to 4:1.

I got a chance to speak in front of an audience and to sell to them. I speak pretty regularly but I don’t always get to sell from the stage and it was a good low-stakes way to test my skills here (because I didn’t NEED to sell anything to still earn a profit from the event). This has the possibility to boost my ROI by as much as 10:1, although time will tell as I’m still waiting for the orders (versus people who said they were going to order).

It was also nice to hang out in Columbus again. When I attended last year, the event was at an airport hotel so I didn’t have a lot of time or transportation to explore Columbus. But this year’s event was held at the really cool Westin Columbus which is in a more downtown-like section of the city.

I also pushed my own personal limits of doing work on the road. I tend to write best in a focused room without any distractions. (I’m definitely NOT one of those Starbucks writers — I’d be too busy people-watching). I work in a productivity-tuned environment with an ergonomic chair and an ergonomic keyboard; and when I do I can write A LOT! So I brought my laptop with me to the conference and would spend time writing in my hotel room. That way, I didn’t have to put all of my clients on hold while I attended this event. I can’t produce as much with a laptop keyboard before my wrists start to hurt but I can produce some. This conference helped to raise the bar on how much I can produce in an environment that isn’t my typical working environment.